AIBU to request a service charge is removed before service?

[Globules]

Went to a lovely restaurant yesterday. We began by ordering at the table using the app. We expected to pay before recieving our food.

The app automatically added a 12.5% service charge to the order. There was no option to remove it.

So I went to the bar and ordered. The server put the order through the app I'd just used, therefore the total was the same. I asked her to take off the service charge. She seemed surprised, but did so.

Inside I was thinking I haven't had any service yet, how can you charge me for it now?

The server poured the 2 drinks at the bar. I carried them to our table. Another server carried our plates of food 3m from the hatch to the table.

There was no other interaction with servers at all. The servers were pleasant enough, but 20 seconds of announcing food was all it amounted to.

The food was really tasty but nothing service wise to justify the £7 service charge they asked for upfront, before you'd even experienced the service!

Omg that robot is mortifying.

YANBU. Personally I wouldn't be going to a restaurant where you order via an App in any case.

Thanks. I also didnt see your post before I posted this myself. Obviously because as previous pointed out I cant read 😂

@Elektra1 Does your daughter not get at least minimum wage? The tipping culture in the UK is starting to get out of hand.

@PoppinjayPolly They do get "something". They are paid. If the food is not good they shouldn't be in a job.

@JacquesHarlow I’d actually argue that adding a service charge makes independent restaurants more likely to lose down, not less.

The service charge goes to the staff, as a bonus extra. It doesn’t contribute to the restaurant’s income. The restaurant’s costs remain the same (staff wages, heating, lighting, rent, food etc), and the service charge doesn’t help with that. But by automatically adding a service charge, the prices look higher, which may deter customers. Hence putting the restaurant at greater risk of closure.

I work in a school on minimum wage. What’s your point?

@SundayFundayz ...after it is taxed it will (should) be given to the employees. It doesn't always happen.

Have you not seen the many articles in newspapers recently how pubs, bars and restaurants are really struggling because of rise in their cost partly higher fuel, electric and staff costs and higher taxes? Many closing or will close. Tips help the staff and business continue I presume.

Yanbu I wouldn't pay a service charge before I've even received the service. I'd tip voluntarily if I received exceptionally good service after the fact but if I received average/bad service I'd not.

US friends report that the tipping culture is out of control there now with the minimum expected percentage rising, and service charge being added even on take away coffee or if you buy a scoop of icecream from a booth.

At some point we seem to have forgotten the purpose of the service charge in restaurants which was to reward those who did their best to ensure we had a pleasant experience when eating out and hopefully ensure they were being appropriately compensated, given that their base pay could be very low. Ironically, now that staff are making at least minimum wage so we know they are not being paid less than the local barista, retail worker, theatre usher etc the sense of entitlement to this service charge has grown and the corresponding levels of service have dropped, either because there is now an expectation of receiving this amount regardless of the experience or because customers are now expected to place their own orders, get their own cutlery and carry their drinks.

They're so annoying. Last time I passed through it kept going through an area where staff had put a barrier up, somit kept getting stuck and making annoying 'uh oh' noises. Gave me the rage.

My DS9 loved the robot on this trip though.

@Electra1 Tipping the estate agent is very condescending IMO.

@tara66 How do tips help venue owners cover their costs? My son works one night a week in a gastro pub. He usually comes home with about £10 of tips. How does that help the pub owners pay their bills?

This is hardly normal! Most hospitality employees get paid.
One would think if someone goes bust, then re sets up a new company without paying their staff that they would have great difficulty getting new staff??

Honestly, do you think we should all be paying huge service charges ‘just incase’ the server isn’t getting their wages?? You seem to have ignored the obvious which is if the server isn’t getting paid their wages there’s no way in hell they are getting the ‘service charge’ as well!!
Good for you tipping everyone but for the majority of people who have already paid for the service this is simply ridiculous.
l hope estate agents etc don’t think they are as entitled as your daughter and start expecting tips too!

I always ask for it to be removed!

Our local pub adds 12.5% to all food, including crisps! I hadn’t realised until I asked for a receipt. My friend thought I was being petty by being outraged about it.

How do tips help business to continue?

Absolutely this. There is no service to reward.

Some of “these people” work hard for minimum wage. Some don’t. My brother is bone lazy and works in this industry. Some are really rude. It’s foolish to pretend they all work hard and therefore we should all accept a crap system

OP, you’re not wrong for asking to remove the service charge upfront.

I’ve done it before and had good reason, once a place forgot our drinks order completely and we had to chase it after 30 minutes, and another time my food was just dropped off with no cutlery (for calamari… not ideal 😂).

Tipping should be optional, not expected. It’s not the customer’s job to top up wages on top of paying for the meal. If people want to tip, great, but they shouldn’t be guilt-tripped into it or judged. It’s certainly not a dick move

I ask if the service charge goes to the staff and I also ask if it goes to staff on probation as they are often exempt. We had a new chain restaurant open locally and when I quizzed them about the service charge I found out only the two exsisting staff (the manager and some other manager who had come from another of their restaurants) ended up with the tips. All the ‘new’ staff didn’t as they were on probation.
This also happened to my son in a chain coffee shop where he was asked to work very long hours and even open the store but was exempt from ‘tips’ for 4 months. I know tips don’t play such a big role in a coffee shop but it was still annoying.
Another of my kids friends worked in a restaurant where the managers nabbed all the tips and the staff were ordered to say the tips were shared evenly if asked. They didn’t stay in the job long as it was obviously an awful place to work.

That's awful, so exploitative.

Well they make you pay for the food up front so they obviously don't trust their customers much. I guess that's why they add the service as well. They should let you remove it on the app if you wish.

A service charge is a bit different to a tip as a tip goes directly to the employee you give it to whereas with a service charge it gets pooled in to a pot and the company decides how to distribute it. More often they will divide the charge equally between staff as a ‘bonus’. In that sense it’s not just the waiting staff that will get this but also the people that prep your food, concierges that take your booking and so on. Having it built in to the app just gives them a way of collecting this money. The service is still there, whether you think it was exceptional or not, they are still preparing and giving you the food hence why it’s optional. When you think an individual was exceptional that’s what a tip is for.